Happy Chanukah- A personal post

Happy Chanukah to all my Jewish friends!! Tonight we light the first candle of Chanukah.

This is a long and personal post so please read only if you want:

Chanukah is my favorite Jewish Holiday for many different reasons and I just wanted to share some of my heritage and traditions here on my blog too. However since I schedule most of my posts, I had written this one long ago and things changed since then. So I’m sharing my traditions but I’m also sharing something a bit more personal and sad below.

These are my favorite Chanukah Traditions:

1. Getting together with family and lighting the Chanukiah’s (menorah) candles to remember the miracles of Chanukah.

2. Eating Sufganiot (jelly filled doughnuts that are just so delicious, better than any other) and latkes. Yum Yum

3. Playing spin the dreidle with my kids.

4. singing Chanukah songs and remembering to believe in miracles!!

I’m usually not one to share a lot of personal stuff on my blog or Facebook. However I understand how it is actually quite therapeutic to write about how you feel and send it out there. So here I am pouring my heart out today because truly I don’t know what else to do. I just feel it is really important that I write this today not only for me, but for those who are going through something that is affecting your life. I want to reassure you that you have my love and light shining upon you and that you are never alone.
This morning when I woke up I found out that my last grandmother had passed away. She had been sick for the past few months, so we knew it was coming. Its hard to explain what I feel. I wasn’t really close to her although she was present all throughout my life. However, I have an overwhelming sense of loss. Its not a loss of a person but its the loss of a whole generation. This was the generation that suffered so much and worked so hard to make an imprint in this world. This was a generation that we were told as kids to always remember because they went through so much in their lives.

I feel sadness for my parents who now don’t have their parents anymore. I know how close I am to my parents and how much they support and love means to me and it is heartbreaking for me that my parents won’t have that from now on.
This month I’m also saddened by all the people who are suffering around me. My heart fills with sadness and hopes for miracles for them.
Chanukah is the holiday of miracles and I pray and hope that all of you who need a beacon of light to light up your way feel the love and light I’m sending you right now. You all know who you are as I don’t want to mention any names. Even those who don’t know me but I hear of your sadness and loss, I’m praying for you too.
Generations come and generations go. This year my sister had a baby girl. She was named after my other grandmother who passed away 2 years ago. Now this grandmother passed away and I can really see how the circle of life evolves.
I was told something very beautiful about why we light candles. A candle is like a person’s body and the flame is the soul. You light up a candle because without a flame it is just wax. Without a soul a body is just a body. A candle light is eternal and so is the soul and so we light candles to remind us that the soul is eternal.
I am praying and hoping that anyone who reads my post here or on Facebook knows how much I love them. It is the love of one human being to another. the love of one soul to another.
May all my grandparents rest in peace. Each couple together at last watching over us.
I want to bless us all, that we may never know suffering and may we always have health and happiness throughout your lives. Amen.

I created this tag for the Prima ArtZine last month.

I used the “All about me” collection to create it. I cut the blue chevron paper in the shape of a Menorah and then cut out the blue drops from the raindrop paper to create the flame. I decorated the tag with blue flowers and then added some yellow Shimmerz paint behind the flames to make them glow

12 Comments

Keren thank you for sharing your family story, my thoughts are also with you as I no longer have my parents or grandparents and what you mention about losing a generation is so true. I am now the eldest person in my direct family line and its daunting, I feel we should live each day the best we can. Sending hugs to you.

HI Keren, thank you for this beautiful post.. It is lovely to share our love for scrapbooking but also really special to share our lives too.. I am sorry for the loss of your dear Grandmother.. She will be missed.. I trust that your family together will help each other in this time of sadness.. I really love the story of the candles too, they do represent life in so many ways.. Our lives are short like a candle and while we are here on earth we are to shine and give light and warmth to those around us.. I do believe in miracles and I have faith in God..( I hope you don't mind me typing all the letters ) and as we draw close to Christmas it is always a special time to me to reflect on Jesus birth and how all of history has its meaning because of Him.. There are such awful things happening in the world but I do pray you know peace and hope and joy because it still is a wonderful world.. There is so much I could say, but thank you for sharing this post and sharing your great talents in scrapbooking too..I do pray this special time of celebration for your family will bring such love and warmth and hope.. God bless you.. xxlizzy

Happy Chanukah Keren…and at the same time, so sorry for you and your familys loss of your Grandmother! Blessings to you and your family!It is great to read of your family traditions, and is so great that you will pass it down to your children and they to their own! Heritage is a wonderful thing!Thanks for sharing your thoughts and words with us…it has touched my heart too! Thanks xx

A beautiful post, Keren – thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother, but I can hear in how you speak about love and your family that she will stay part of you all, and that she will continue to spread her light within your daily lives.

Sweet Keren – your post touched my heart. My prayers go out to you and your family on the loss of your grandmother. Thanks for sharing such a personal time with us. I think scrappers are some of the best people to share with as most of us create in order to create lasting memories for generations to follow. Happy Chanukah and as I am not Jewish it was neat to learn about your traditions! And Lady that tag is beautiful and I must say I am so enjoying watching your style explode with all the new design teams you are contributing to. Many hugs!

Keren, oh my sweetest friend! I have read and re-read your post several times, each word making an imprint in me. I am so so sorry to hear about your grandmother! More separately. Sending you love and light xoxoxoxox

About Me

Hi, I'm Keren
I’m a wife to a wonderful husband and a mother to two amazing kids. I’ve been scrapbooking for 13 years and I'm very passionate about it. Over the past couple of years, I've diverted myself into the mixed media world and I love combining them both together.
I love to create and experiment with many different mediums and techniques. My style is always evolving and that's one of the things I love about this art.
I hope you enjoy the layouts I create!!